Matthew 5:11-12
2016
In Pakistan, Christians gathered to celebrate Easter when an Islamic suicide bomber entered a crowd of families and blew himself up killing 72 people including 29 children.
2014 - 2015 AD
In Malaysia, Christian literature are required by law to carry a caption "for non-Muslims only". Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia allows the states to prohibit the propagation of other religions to Muslims. Those showing interest in the Christian faith or other faith practices not considered orthodox by state religious authorities are usually sent either by the police or their family members to state funded Faith Rehabilitation Centres (Malay: Pusat Pemulihan Akidah) where they are counseled to remain faithful to Islam and some states have provisions for penalties under their respective Shariah legislations for apostasy from Islam.
The communist government of the People's Republic of China tries to maintain tight control over all religions, so the only legal Christian Churches are those under the Communist Party of China control. Churches which are not controlled by the government are shut down, and their members are imprisoned.
In North Korea it is currently estimated that more than 50,000 Christians are locked inside concentration camps because of their faith, where they are systematically subjugated to horrible treatment such as unrestrained torture, mass-starvation and even imprisonment and death by asphyxiation in gas chambers. The number of Christians being murdered for their faith seems to be increasing as times goes by because in 2013 the death toll was 1,200 and in 2014, this figure doubled rendering it to close to 2,400 martyred Christians.
Christians from the Middle East living in Copenhagen, Denmark, have been attacked and threatened by Muslim gangs. The Danish police force in Copenhagen fears the problem is more prevalent than reports of the crime to police since victims fear further reprisals for contacting authorities.
Nine people were shot on an Oregon, United States of America school campus. In one classroom, he appeared to single out Christian students for killing, according to witness Anastasia Boylan. “He said, ‘Good, because you’re a Christian, you’re going to see God in just about one second,'”and “Vicari said at one point the shooter told people to stand up before asking whether they were Christian or not. Vicari’s brother told her that anyone who responded ‘yes’ was shot in the head. If they said ‘other’ or didn’t answer, they were shot elsewhere in the body, usually the leg.”
14 people were murdered and 21 injured when a radical Muslim Pakistani couple attended a Christmas party and started shooting in San Bernardino, California. Lucky a pipe bomb did not detonate or more would have been killed.
In Chattanooga Tennessee a radical Muslim attacked military recruiting centers killing 5 and wounding 3.
In Garland Texas two radical Muslims offended by a free speech art exhibit attempt to storm and shoot attendees of the exhibit. They were stopped by local law enforcement.
In Libya, 30 Ethiopian Christians were executed by Muslim militants on the shores of the Mediterranean sea as they tried to flee the country.
2011 - 2013 AD
In Kenya, Islamic terrorists cornered people in a shopping center in Nairobi using guns and grenades. They instructed Muslims to leave. Then they shot those remaining non-Muslims, killing 39, and wounding 150.
In Nigeria, The Boko Haram Islamist group has bombed churches and killed numerous Christians who they regard as kafirs (infidels). More than 30,000 Christians were displaced from their homes in Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria.
150 kidnappings, for ransom, of Christians had been reported in the Minya governorate, Egypt.
Youcef Nadarkhani is an Iranian Christian pastor who was arrested on charges of apostasy in October 2009 and was subsequently sentenced to death. In June 2011 the Iranian Supreme Court overruled his death sentence on condition that he recant, which he refused to do. In a reversal on 8 of September 2012 he was acquitted of the charges of apostasy and extortion, and sentenced to time served for the charge of "propaganda against the regime," and immediately released.
During the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive, the Islamic State of Iraq issued a decree in July that all indigenous Assyrian Christians in the area of its control must leave the lands, convert to Islam, or be murdered. A 5-year-old boy, who's the son of a founding member of St. George's Anglican Church in Baghdad, was slaughtered by Islamic State terrorists, who cut the boy in half.
The only Christian minister in the Pakistan government was shot dead. Shahbaz Bhatti, Minister for Minorities, was in his car along with his niece. Around 50 bullets struck the car. Over 10 bullets hit Bhatti. Before his death, he had publicly stated that he was not afraid of the Taliban's threats and was willing to die for his faith and beliefs. He was targeted for opposing the anti-free speech "blasphemy" law, which punishes insulting Islam or its prophet.
Militants sworn to eradicate Christianity from Somalia beheaded two Christian converts. A third Christian convert was beheaded in Mogadishu in early 2012.
India, Kerala which has an ancient pre-Islamic community of Eastern Rite Christians, Islamic Terrorists chopped off the hand of Professor T.J. Joseph due to allegation of blasphemy of prophet.
Boston, Massachusetts during a popular marathon; two radical Muslims plant bombs and had them explode at a certain time killing 3 and wounding 264.
2007 - 2010 AD
In Afghanistan, Abdul Rahman, a 41-year-old citizen, was charged in 2006 with rejecting Islam, a crime punishable by death under Sharia law. He has since been released into exile. the Taliban killed a British charity worker, Gayle Williams, "because she was working for an organisation which was preaching Christianity in Afghanistan".
Chaldean Catholic Church priest Fr. Ragheed Aziz Ganni and subdeacons Basman Yousef Dawid, Wahid Hanna Esho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed were killed in the ancient city of Mosul, Iraq. Ganni was driving with his three deacons when they were stopped and demanded to convert to Islam, when they refused they were shot. Paulos Faraj Rahho, archbishop of Mosul, was found buried near Mosul. He was kidnapped on 29 February 2008 when his bodyguards and driver were killed. A number of Christians was killed in Baghdad and Mosul, and in 1 Augusts 2004 a series of explosions targeted Churches in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk leaving 15 dead and 71 injured. In 2010 there was an attack on the Our Lady of Salvation Syriac Catholic cathedral of Baghdad, Iraq, that took place during Sunday evening Mass on 31 October 2010. The attack left at least 58 people dead, after more than 100 had been taken hostage.
A Christian missionary couple, Rev. Arif and Kathleen Khan, were gunned down by militant Islamists in Islamabad, Pakistan. Six Christians, including four women and a child, were burnt alive by Muslim militants and a church set ablaze in Gojra, Pakistan when violence broke out after alleged desecration of a Qur'an in a wedding ceremony by Christians. A Christian woman from Punjab Province, Asia Noreen Bibi, was sentenced to death by hanging for violating Pakistan's blasphemy law. The accusation stemmed from a 2009 incident in which Bibi became involved in a religious argument after offering water to thirsty Muslim farm workers. The workers later claimed that she had blasphemed the Muhammed.
The Nag Hammadi massacre was a massacre of Coptic Christians carried out on the eve of 7 January 2010, in the Egyptian city of Nag Hammadi. The massacre occurred at the hands of Muslim gunmen in front of the Nag Hammadi cathedral, as Coptic Christians were leaving the church after celebrating the midnight Christmas mass according to the Coptic calendar. The massacre resulted in the murder of seven Copts and one Muslim bystander.
A radical Muslim opens fire in Fort hood Texas and kills 13 and injures 32.
2004 - 2006 AD
One person was killed and twelve injured in simultaneous knife attacks on three Coptic Orthodox churches in Alexandria, Egypt.
Pakistani law mandates that "blasphemies" of the Qur'an are to be met with punishment. At least a dozen Christians have been given death sentences, and half a dozen murdered after being accused of violating blasphemy laws. In 2005, 80 Christians were behind bars due to these laws. 3,000 militant Islamists attacked Christians in Sangla Hill in Pakistan and destroyed Roman Catholic, Salvation Army and United Presbyterian churches. The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani Christian named Yousaf Masih.
Father Andrea Santoro was murdered in Trabzon, Turkey. on April 18, 2007 in Zirve Publishing House, Malatya, Turkey Three employees of the Bible publishing house were attacked, tortured and murdered by five Sunni Muslim assailants. Mass deportations took place and Patriarch Mar Ignatius Elias III was expelled.
A Christian convert and missionary in India, Bashir Tantray, was killed, allegedly by militant Islamists in 2006.
Christians must worship in registered, regulated churches. According to the Jubilee Campaign, an interdenominational lobby group, about 300 Christians caught attending unregistered "house churches" were in jail in 2004 in China.
1999 - 2002 AD
Nine people were killed in an explosion at a Roman Catholic church in the Gopalganj District of Bangladeshi.
Annual human rights reports for 1999, the United States Department of State criticized India for "increasing societal violence against Christians." The report listed over 90 incidents of anti-Christian violence, ranging from damage of religious property to violence against Christians pilgrims. In 1997, twenty-four such incidents were reported. Recent waves of anti-conversion laws passed is claimed to be a gradual and continuous institutionalization of Hindutva.
Tens of thousands died when Muslims gunmen terrorized Christians who had voted for independence in East Timor, Indonesia.
Gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on a Protestant congregation in the Punjab, Pakistan, killing 18 people. The identities of the gunmen are unknown. Five people were killed in an attack on a church in Islamabad, including an American schoolgirl and her mother. Masked gunmen stormed a Christian missionary school for foreigners in Islamabad; six people were killed and three injured. Grenades were thrown at a church in the grounds of a Christian hospital in north-west Pakistan, near Islamabad, killing three nurses. Two terrorists entered the "Peace and Justice Institute", Karachi, where they separated Muslims from the Christians, and then murdered seven Christians by shooting them in the head. All of the victims were Pakistani Christians. Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said the victims had their hands tied and their mouths had been covered with tape. Three young girls were killed when a hand grenade was thrown into a church near Lahore on Christmas Day.
Abu Sayyaf raid kidnapped about 20 people from Dos Palmas, an expensive resort in Honda Bay, to the north of Puerto Princesa City on the island of Palawan, which had been "considered completely safe". The most "valuable" of the hostages were three North Americans, Martin and Gracia Burnham, a missionary couple, and Guillermo Sobero, a Peruvian-American tourist who was later beheaded by Abu Sayyaf.
In Fort Worth Texas, a gun man opens fire at the Edgewood Baptist Church and kills 7 and injures 7.
In Columbine Colorado, two youths walked around the Columbine High school shooting trapped students. In the Library students were asked if they are Christian, when answered yes, they were shot in the head.
1992 - 1996 AD
Seven monks from the monastery of Tibhirine in Algeria, belonging to the Roman Catholic Trappist Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (O.C.S.O.), were kidnapped in the Algerian Civil War. They were held for two months, and were found dead on 21 May 1996.
Mass arrests and torture of local priests. Prior to partition, southern Sudan had a number of Christian villages. These were subsequently wiped out by Janjaweed militias. Thousands of Christians were killed.
1917 - 1940 AD
The Bolsheviks began to remove any relation to orthodox Christianity with the government state. They sought to make an atheistic government. An extensive education and propaganda campaign was undertaken to convince people, especially the children and youth, to abandon religious beliefs. In the first five years after the Bolshevik revolution, 28 bishops and 1,200 priests were executed. 130,000 Orthodox priests were arrested. This persecution resulted in the intentional murders of 500,000 Russian Orthodox Christians in the gulags by the Soviet government, not including torture or other Christian denominations killed. Metropolitan Benjamin of Petrograd, Priest and scientist Pavel Florensky and Bishop Gorazd Pavlik were killed during this time.
Spain Persecution of Catholics mostly, before and at the beginning, of the Spanish Civil war, involved the murder of almost 7,000 priests and other clergy, as well as thousands of lay people, by sections of nearly all the leftist groups because of their faith. individual clergymen and entire religious communities were executed by leftists, which included communists and anarchists. The death toll of the clergy alone included 13 bishops, 4,172 diocesan priests and seminarians, 2,364 monks and friars and 283 nuns, for a total of 6,832 clerical victims.
In Mexico, after the Mexican revolution; the atheist President Plutarco Calles of Mexico sought to vigorously enforce the provisions and enacted additional anti-Catholic legislation known as the Calles Law. Between 1926 and 1934 at least 40 priests were killed. Where there were 4,500 priests serving the people before the rebellion, in 1934 there were 334 priests licensed by the government to serve fifteen million people, the rest having been eliminated by emigration, expulsion and assassination. 30,000 Cristeros, and numerous civilians and Cristeros who were killed in anticlerical raids after the war ended. In 1992, the Mexican government amended the constitution by granting all religious groups legal status, conceding them limited property rights and lifting restrictions on the number of priests in the country.
1894 - 1905 AD
The Taiyuan Massacre. Also known as China Martyrs of 1900. During the Boxer Rebellion as a whole, a total of 136 Protestant missionaries and 53 children were killed, and 47 Catholic priests and nuns. 30,000 Chinese Catholics, 2,000 Chinese Protestants, and 200 to 400 of the 700 Russian Orthodox Christians in Beijing were estimated to have been killed ncluding St. Metrophanes.
Assyrians and Armenians Christians were killed by Turkish troops in an attempt to establish a Islamic state also known as the Hamidian massacre. Resulting in an estimated 2.5 million deaths, divided between roughly 1.2 million Armenian Christians, 0.75 million Assyrians and 0.75 million Greek Orthodox Christians;
1867 AD
In Fiji, Thomas Baker was a Methodist missionary in Fiji, known as being the only missionary in that country to be killed and eaten, along with seven of his Fijian followers.
1831 - 1859 AD
Queen Ranavalona I (reigned 1828–1861) issued a royal edict prohibiting the practice of Christianity in Madagascar, expelled British missionaries from the island, and sought to stem the growth of conversion to Christianity within her realm. Many Malagasy citizens were put to death during this period as a consequence of their refusal to recant their Christian faith. In 1838, it was estimated that as many as 100,000 people in Imerina die. in 1849, deemed the worst of these years by British missionary to Madagascar W.E. Cummins (1878), 1,900 people were fined, jailed or otherwise punished in relation to their Christian faith, including 18 executions.
In Vietnam, the emperor passed new laws on regulations for religious groupings in Viet Nam, and Catholicism was then officially prohibited. In 1832, the first act occurred in a largely Catholic village near Hue, with the entire community being incarcerated and sent into exile in Cambodia. In January 1833 a new kingdom-wide edict was passed calling on Vietnamese subjects to reject the religion of Jesus. The first executed was named Francois Gagelin. After 1836, officials could visit villages and force all the villagers to line up one by one to trample on a cross and if a community was suspected of harbouring a missionary, militia could block off the village gates and perform a rigorous search; if a missionary was found, collective punishment could be meted out to the entire community. those officals who attacked and killed the Christians could receive promotion or other rewards. Ignacious Delgado, was captured in the village of Can Lao, put in a cage on public display for ridicule and abuse, and died of hunger and exposure while waiting for execution; representative sample of only 117 martyrs
1784 - 1799 AD
The French Revolution. Approximately 30,000 priests were forced to leave France, and thousands who did not leave were executed. Requiring Vendeans to fill their district's quota of 300,000 enraged the populace, who took up arms as "The Catholic Army", "Royal" being added later, and fought for "above all the reopening of their parish churches with their former priests." A massacre of 6,000 Vendée prisoners, many of them women, took place after the battle of Savenay, along with the drowning of 3,000 Vendée women at Pont-au-Baux and 5,000 Vendée priests, old men, women, and children killed by drowning at the Loire River at Nantes. July 1796, the estimated Vendean dead numbered between 117,000 and 500,000, Some historians call these mass killings the first modern genocide, specifically because intent to exterminate the Catholic Vendeans.
In India, Muslim Tipu Sultan took Mangalorean Catholics into captivity issued orders to seize the Christians in Canara (India), confiscate their estates, and deport them to Seringapatam. Fr. Miranda, all the 21 arrested priests were issued orders of expulsion to Goa, fined Rs 2 lakhs, and threatened death by hanging if they ever returned. Tipu ordered the destruction of 27 Catholic churches. 70,000 were captured, from a population of 80,000, with 10,000 escaping. 20,000 of them died on the march to Seringapatam. According to James Scurry, a British officer, who was held captive along with Mangalorean Catholics, 30,000 of them were forcibly converted to Islam.
1671 - 1722 AD
Christianity was banned for at least a century in China by the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty because the pope did not permit Chinese Christians to have Confucius statues.
1597 - 1637AD
Japan banns Christianity. 26 Christians - European Franciscan missionaries, three Japanese Jesuits and seventeen Japanese laymen including three young boys—were executed by crucifixion in Nagasaki. the Great Genna Martyrdom (1622AD). 55 Christians were martyred in Nagasaki Japan. Paulo Miki was martyred during this time. Alfonso Navarrete Benito, Pedro of Avila, Carlo Espinola, Ioachim Diaz Hirayama, Lucia de Freitas, and 200 Companion; Lorenzo Ruiz, Dominic Ibáñez de Erquicia, James Kyushei Tomonaga, and 13 companions Martyrs of Japan. The church in Japan went underground until 1890 with the Meiji Constitution that gave them religious freedom.
1542 - 1549 AD
Juan de Padilla went to Kansas, United States of America, to preach to the Wichita, and establish the first Christian mission in the present-day United States. He was killed in Kansas in 1542 by Native Americans, and is considered to be one of the first Christian martyrs in the U.S
Luis Cancer de Barbastro was a Dominican priest and pioneer Spanish missionary to the New World. He undertook a non-violent approach to converting the American Indians to Christianity, and had significant success in this regard in the Caribbean and later in Guatemala. In 1549 he continued his mission work in Florida, an area already ravaged by previous explorers, and was killed on the shores of Tampa Bay.
1525 - 1536 AD
Jan de Bakker was arrested and the next day transferred to The Hague, where was tried by the Inquisition. Refusing to recant, he was defrocked and sentenced to death, and on September 15, 1525 burned at the stake in The Hague.
Huldrych Zwingli became the pastor of the Grossmünster in Zurich where he began to preach ideas on reforming the Catholic Church. In his first public controversy in 1522, he attacked the custom of fasting during Lent. he noted corruption in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, promoted clerical marriage, and attacked the use of images in places of worship. In 1525, Zwingli introduced a new communion liturgy to replace the Mass. Zwingli's ideas came to the attention of Martin Luther and other reformers. They met at the Marburg Colloquy and although they agreed on many points of doctrine, they could not reach an accord on the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Zwingli's alliance applied an unsuccessful food blockade on the Catholic cantons. The cantons responded with an attack at a moment when Zurich was ill prepared. Zwingli was killed in battle.
William Tyndale was arrested and jailed in the castle of Vilvoorde (Filford) outside Brussels for over a year. In 1536 he was convicted of heresy and executed by strangulation, after which his body was burnt at the stake.
1414 - 1415 AD
John Huss - The Wycliffe books and valuable manuscripts were burned, and Hus and his adherents were excommunicated by Alexander V. Hus spoke out against indulgences. The Council of Constance (1414–1418) became the 16th ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church. Hus, willing to make an end of all dissensions, agreed to go to Constance. he continued celebrating Mass and preaching to the people, in violation of restrictions decreed by the Church. After a few weeks, his opponents succeeded in imprisoning him. he remained for 73 days, separated from his friends, chained day and night, poorly fed, and ill. but declared himself willing to recant if his errors should be proven to him from the Bible. Hus stated "God is my witness that the things charged against me I never preached. In the same truth of the Gospel which I have written, taught, and preached, drawing upon the sayings and positions of the holy doctors, I am ready to die today" and then was executed and burned alive. Jerome of Prague was also executed
1380 - 1395 AD
Tamerlane (a Turco-Mongol conqueror and the founder of the Timurid Empire) instigated large scale of Christians in Mesopotamia, Persia, Asia Minor and Syria.
Timur had 70,000 Assyrian Christians beheaded in Tikrit, and 90,000 more in Baghdad, Iraq.
Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović of Serbia - In the Battle of Kosovo fought on 15 June 1389, Lazar led the army which confronted a massive invading army of the Ottoman Empire commanded by Sultan Murad I. Both Prince Lazar and Sultan Murad lost their lives in the battle.
John Wycliffe increasingly argued for Scriptures as the authoritative centre of Christianity, that the claims of the papacy were unhistorical, that monasticism was irredeemably corrupt, and that the moral unworthiness of priests invalidated their office and sacraments. he suffered a stroke, and died as the year ended. The Anti-Wycliffite Statute of 1401 extended persecution to Wycliffe's remaining followers. The "Constitutions of Oxford" of 1408 aimed to reclaim authority in all ecclesiastical matters, and specifically named John Wycliffe as it banned certain writings, and noted that translation of Scripture into English by unlicensed laity is a crime punishable by charges of heresy.
1016 AD
Jovan Vladimir - Tsar Samuel's defeat by the Byzantines in 1014 and death soon after. In 1016, Vladimir fell victim to a plot by Ivan Vladislav, the last ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire. He was beheaded in front of a church in Prespa, the empire's capital, and was buried there.
650 - 717 AD
Muslim nations impose a treaty on Christians within their countries that limit their religious practices and reduces their status as citizens. It is known as The Treaty of Umar. This treaty become part of islamic law and sharia. Non-Muslims were taxed heavily. Christians were heavily socially and civilly pressured to convert to islam.
614 AD
Jewish Governor was killed and Christianity was blamed. Christians were arrested and tortured and interrogated. The treatment caused a Christian rebellion. Christians took the city of Jerusalem and exiled the Jews. Persian forces were notified and retook Jerusalem. 17,000 Christians were executed.
516 AD
A Jewish Warlord in Yemen called for all people in the region to convert to Judaism. The Christians resisted and around 22,000 Christians were executed with the help of Arab and Persian allies of the Jewish Warlord.
341 - 375 AD
Persian Emperor ordered the eradication of Assyrian Christians. 1,500 were martyred. In a gothic region, a Terving King named Athanaric also ordered the persecution of Christians.
320 AD
The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste were a group of Roman soldiers. They were killed near the city of Sebaste, present-day Turkey and were victims of the persecutions of Licinius, who after 316, persecuted the Christians of the East. They were condemned by the prefect to be exposed naked upon a frozen pond near Sebaste on a bitterly cold night, that they might freeze to death.
288 - 313 AD
Diocletianic Persecution. Emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding the legal rights of Christians and demanding that they comply with traditional Roman religious practices. Later edicts targeted the clergy and ordered all inhabitants to sacrifice to the Roman gods (a policy known as universal sacrifice). Diocletian purged the army of Christians. Around 20,000 Christians were martyred during the 10 year persecution. Edict of Milan in 313 ended the Christian persecution. Saint George, Agnes of Rome, , Saints Marcellinus and Peter, Saint Euphemia, and Saint Sebastian was martyred during this time.
250 - 258 AD
The Decian persecution resulted from an edict issued in 250 by the Emperor Decius ordering everyone in the Roman Empire to perform a sacrifice to the Roman gods and the well-being of the Emperor. The edict ordered that the sacrifices be performed in the presence of a Roman magistrate, and a signed and witnessed certificate be issued to that effect. Jews were specifically exempted from this requirement. Fabian, Babylas of Antioch, Origen, and Alexander of Jerusalem were put to death for refusal. Cyprian is martyred in Carthage as well.
235 - 238 AD
Roman Emperor Maximinus Thrax ordered the whole empire to sacrifice to Roman gods. Empire officials were sent throughout the empire to officiate the sacrifices. Christians refused to take part. Thus he ordered Christian leaders to be arrested and put to death. Hippolytus of Rome and Pontian fled into exile.
203 AD
A slave named Revocatus, his fellow slave Felicitas, the two free men Saturninus and Secundulus, and Perpetua, who were catechumens, that is, Christians being instructed in the faith but not yet baptized, were arrested and executed at the military games in celebration of the Emperor Geta's birthday in Carthage. To this group was added a man named Saturus, who voluntarily went before the magistrate and proclaimed himself a Christian.
172 - 180 AD
Persecution of Lyons. Christians were prior banned from the market and bath houses and other public areas. Their homes were being vandalized and years prior they were being socially and civilly persecuted. Vettius Epagathus was arrested and martyred. They were charged with incest and cannibalism. The community did not understand what Christians believed (Sisters in Christ and communion were misunderstood) Irenaeus records the events. Roman governor arrested, interrogated, tortured and killed everyone accused. There were 48 victims at Lyons. Pothinus of Lyons, Attalus, Epipodius of Alexander, Maturus, Ponticus, and Sanctus, a deacon from Vienne.
The Scillitan Martyrs were a company of twelve North African Christians. Their trial and execution took place in Carthage under the Pro-consul Vigellius Saturninus, whom Tertullian declares to have been the first persecutor of Christians in Africa. The Scillitan sufferers were twelve in all—seven men and five women. Their names were Speratus, Nartzalus, Cintinus (Cittinus), Veturius, Felix, Aquilinus, Laetantius, Januaria, Generosa, Vestia, Donata, and Secunda.
155 - 165 AD
Justin Martyr was martyred, alongside some of his students. Ptolemaeus converted a promiscuous woman to Christianity, teaching her to live in chastity. The woman left her husband. Ptolemaeus was then accused by the woman’s husband of engaging in improper behavior with her. Ptolemaeus was brought before the prefect Lollius at Rome and was thrown into prison. He was later executed. Lucius was a man who protested against Ptolemaeus' sentence. He argued that Ptolemaeus has not been found guilty of any crime, and argued that Ptolemaeus was innocent of the charges brought against him challenging the honor of the prefect, the emperor, and the Senate. Lucius dangerously maintained that the sentence that had been imposed was unworthy of all of them. Lucius was then executed. Justin writes about a third, unnamed martyr: "Next, a third man also deserted [i.e. disagreed with the sentence] and was sentenced to be punished."
Polycarp is martyred in the Roman Colosseum during the persecutions of Marcus Aurelius.
132 AD
Bar Kochba revolt. During this last semi organized Jewish attempted to revolt against the Roman Empire, Christians were caught up in the event and killed as well.
108 AD
Ignatius of Antioch was martyred in the Roman Colosseum by Emperor Trajan.
34 - 70 AD
Jewish uprising and revolt causes Rome to crush Jerusalem and destroy the Jewish community.
The Great Fire of Rome. Roman Historian Tacitus stated that Emperor Nero blamed Christians for its cause. He states ""to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians". Resulting in hundreds of Christians imprisoned and killed.
High Priest Annas II took power over the region and James The Just was martyred. Christians in Jerusalem begin fleeing to Pella, Jordon; as trouble with Israel and Rome heat up.
Followers of Jesus persecuted by the Pharisees and Saul of Tarsus. Stephen of Jerusalem is stoned to death and becomes first recorded martyr. James The Greater was also martyred around 41AD.
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Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me."Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.Not all people and individuals that get persecuted for Christ's sake are known. But as persecutions are made known we will continue to add the names and regions. Please also see the links below and stay informed and suffer with the body of Christ around the world. Pray for a region or person who is being persecuted today!
2016
In Pakistan, Christians gathered to celebrate Easter when an Islamic suicide bomber entered a crowd of families and blew himself up killing 72 people including 29 children.
2014 - 2015 AD
In Malaysia, Christian literature are required by law to carry a caption "for non-Muslims only". Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia allows the states to prohibit the propagation of other religions to Muslims. Those showing interest in the Christian faith or other faith practices not considered orthodox by state religious authorities are usually sent either by the police or their family members to state funded Faith Rehabilitation Centres (Malay: Pusat Pemulihan Akidah) where they are counseled to remain faithful to Islam and some states have provisions for penalties under their respective Shariah legislations for apostasy from Islam.
The communist government of the People's Republic of China tries to maintain tight control over all religions, so the only legal Christian Churches are those under the Communist Party of China control. Churches which are not controlled by the government are shut down, and their members are imprisoned.
In North Korea it is currently estimated that more than 50,000 Christians are locked inside concentration camps because of their faith, where they are systematically subjugated to horrible treatment such as unrestrained torture, mass-starvation and even imprisonment and death by asphyxiation in gas chambers. The number of Christians being murdered for their faith seems to be increasing as times goes by because in 2013 the death toll was 1,200 and in 2014, this figure doubled rendering it to close to 2,400 martyred Christians.
Christians from the Middle East living in Copenhagen, Denmark, have been attacked and threatened by Muslim gangs. The Danish police force in Copenhagen fears the problem is more prevalent than reports of the crime to police since victims fear further reprisals for contacting authorities.
Nine people were shot on an Oregon, United States of America school campus. In one classroom, he appeared to single out Christian students for killing, according to witness Anastasia Boylan. “He said, ‘Good, because you’re a Christian, you’re going to see God in just about one second,'”and “Vicari said at one point the shooter told people to stand up before asking whether they were Christian or not. Vicari’s brother told her that anyone who responded ‘yes’ was shot in the head. If they said ‘other’ or didn’t answer, they were shot elsewhere in the body, usually the leg.”
14 people were murdered and 21 injured when a radical Muslim Pakistani couple attended a Christmas party and started shooting in San Bernardino, California. Lucky a pipe bomb did not detonate or more would have been killed.
In Chattanooga Tennessee a radical Muslim attacked military recruiting centers killing 5 and wounding 3.
In Garland Texas two radical Muslims offended by a free speech art exhibit attempt to storm and shoot attendees of the exhibit. They were stopped by local law enforcement.
In Libya, 30 Ethiopian Christians were executed by Muslim militants on the shores of the Mediterranean sea as they tried to flee the country.
2011 - 2013 AD
In Kenya, Islamic terrorists cornered people in a shopping center in Nairobi using guns and grenades. They instructed Muslims to leave. Then they shot those remaining non-Muslims, killing 39, and wounding 150.
In Nigeria, The Boko Haram Islamist group has bombed churches and killed numerous Christians who they regard as kafirs (infidels). More than 30,000 Christians were displaced from their homes in Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria.
150 kidnappings, for ransom, of Christians had been reported in the Minya governorate, Egypt.
Youcef Nadarkhani is an Iranian Christian pastor who was arrested on charges of apostasy in October 2009 and was subsequently sentenced to death. In June 2011 the Iranian Supreme Court overruled his death sentence on condition that he recant, which he refused to do. In a reversal on 8 of September 2012 he was acquitted of the charges of apostasy and extortion, and sentenced to time served for the charge of "propaganda against the regime," and immediately released.
During the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive, the Islamic State of Iraq issued a decree in July that all indigenous Assyrian Christians in the area of its control must leave the lands, convert to Islam, or be murdered. A 5-year-old boy, who's the son of a founding member of St. George's Anglican Church in Baghdad, was slaughtered by Islamic State terrorists, who cut the boy in half.
The only Christian minister in the Pakistan government was shot dead. Shahbaz Bhatti, Minister for Minorities, was in his car along with his niece. Around 50 bullets struck the car. Over 10 bullets hit Bhatti. Before his death, he had publicly stated that he was not afraid of the Taliban's threats and was willing to die for his faith and beliefs. He was targeted for opposing the anti-free speech "blasphemy" law, which punishes insulting Islam or its prophet.
Militants sworn to eradicate Christianity from Somalia beheaded two Christian converts. A third Christian convert was beheaded in Mogadishu in early 2012.
India, Kerala which has an ancient pre-Islamic community of Eastern Rite Christians, Islamic Terrorists chopped off the hand of Professor T.J. Joseph due to allegation of blasphemy of prophet.
Boston, Massachusetts during a popular marathon; two radical Muslims plant bombs and had them explode at a certain time killing 3 and wounding 264.
2007 - 2010 AD
In Afghanistan, Abdul Rahman, a 41-year-old citizen, was charged in 2006 with rejecting Islam, a crime punishable by death under Sharia law. He has since been released into exile. the Taliban killed a British charity worker, Gayle Williams, "because she was working for an organisation which was preaching Christianity in Afghanistan".
Chaldean Catholic Church priest Fr. Ragheed Aziz Ganni and subdeacons Basman Yousef Dawid, Wahid Hanna Esho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed were killed in the ancient city of Mosul, Iraq. Ganni was driving with his three deacons when they were stopped and demanded to convert to Islam, when they refused they were shot. Paulos Faraj Rahho, archbishop of Mosul, was found buried near Mosul. He was kidnapped on 29 February 2008 when his bodyguards and driver were killed. A number of Christians was killed in Baghdad and Mosul, and in 1 Augusts 2004 a series of explosions targeted Churches in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk leaving 15 dead and 71 injured. In 2010 there was an attack on the Our Lady of Salvation Syriac Catholic cathedral of Baghdad, Iraq, that took place during Sunday evening Mass on 31 October 2010. The attack left at least 58 people dead, after more than 100 had been taken hostage.
A Christian missionary couple, Rev. Arif and Kathleen Khan, were gunned down by militant Islamists in Islamabad, Pakistan. Six Christians, including four women and a child, were burnt alive by Muslim militants and a church set ablaze in Gojra, Pakistan when violence broke out after alleged desecration of a Qur'an in a wedding ceremony by Christians. A Christian woman from Punjab Province, Asia Noreen Bibi, was sentenced to death by hanging for violating Pakistan's blasphemy law. The accusation stemmed from a 2009 incident in which Bibi became involved in a religious argument after offering water to thirsty Muslim farm workers. The workers later claimed that she had blasphemed the Muhammed.
The Nag Hammadi massacre was a massacre of Coptic Christians carried out on the eve of 7 January 2010, in the Egyptian city of Nag Hammadi. The massacre occurred at the hands of Muslim gunmen in front of the Nag Hammadi cathedral, as Coptic Christians were leaving the church after celebrating the midnight Christmas mass according to the Coptic calendar. The massacre resulted in the murder of seven Copts and one Muslim bystander.
A radical Muslim opens fire in Fort hood Texas and kills 13 and injures 32.
2004 - 2006 AD
One person was killed and twelve injured in simultaneous knife attacks on three Coptic Orthodox churches in Alexandria, Egypt.
Pakistani law mandates that "blasphemies" of the Qur'an are to be met with punishment. At least a dozen Christians have been given death sentences, and half a dozen murdered after being accused of violating blasphemy laws. In 2005, 80 Christians were behind bars due to these laws. 3,000 militant Islamists attacked Christians in Sangla Hill in Pakistan and destroyed Roman Catholic, Salvation Army and United Presbyterian churches. The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani Christian named Yousaf Masih.
Father Andrea Santoro was murdered in Trabzon, Turkey. on April 18, 2007 in Zirve Publishing House, Malatya, Turkey Three employees of the Bible publishing house were attacked, tortured and murdered by five Sunni Muslim assailants. Mass deportations took place and Patriarch Mar Ignatius Elias III was expelled.
A Christian convert and missionary in India, Bashir Tantray, was killed, allegedly by militant Islamists in 2006.
Christians must worship in registered, regulated churches. According to the Jubilee Campaign, an interdenominational lobby group, about 300 Christians caught attending unregistered "house churches" were in jail in 2004 in China.
1999 - 2002 AD
Nine people were killed in an explosion at a Roman Catholic church in the Gopalganj District of Bangladeshi.
Annual human rights reports for 1999, the United States Department of State criticized India for "increasing societal violence against Christians." The report listed over 90 incidents of anti-Christian violence, ranging from damage of religious property to violence against Christians pilgrims. In 1997, twenty-four such incidents were reported. Recent waves of anti-conversion laws passed is claimed to be a gradual and continuous institutionalization of Hindutva.
Tens of thousands died when Muslims gunmen terrorized Christians who had voted for independence in East Timor, Indonesia.
Gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on a Protestant congregation in the Punjab, Pakistan, killing 18 people. The identities of the gunmen are unknown. Five people were killed in an attack on a church in Islamabad, including an American schoolgirl and her mother. Masked gunmen stormed a Christian missionary school for foreigners in Islamabad; six people were killed and three injured. Grenades were thrown at a church in the grounds of a Christian hospital in north-west Pakistan, near Islamabad, killing three nurses. Two terrorists entered the "Peace and Justice Institute", Karachi, where they separated Muslims from the Christians, and then murdered seven Christians by shooting them in the head. All of the victims were Pakistani Christians. Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said the victims had their hands tied and their mouths had been covered with tape. Three young girls were killed when a hand grenade was thrown into a church near Lahore on Christmas Day.
Abu Sayyaf raid kidnapped about 20 people from Dos Palmas, an expensive resort in Honda Bay, to the north of Puerto Princesa City on the island of Palawan, which had been "considered completely safe". The most "valuable" of the hostages were three North Americans, Martin and Gracia Burnham, a missionary couple, and Guillermo Sobero, a Peruvian-American tourist who was later beheaded by Abu Sayyaf.
In Fort Worth Texas, a gun man opens fire at the Edgewood Baptist Church and kills 7 and injures 7.
In Columbine Colorado, two youths walked around the Columbine High school shooting trapped students. In the Library students were asked if they are Christian, when answered yes, they were shot in the head.
1992 - 1996 AD
Seven monks from the monastery of Tibhirine in Algeria, belonging to the Roman Catholic Trappist Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (O.C.S.O.), were kidnapped in the Algerian Civil War. They were held for two months, and were found dead on 21 May 1996.
Mass arrests and torture of local priests. Prior to partition, southern Sudan had a number of Christian villages. These were subsequently wiped out by Janjaweed militias. Thousands of Christians were killed.
1917 - 1940 AD
The Bolsheviks began to remove any relation to orthodox Christianity with the government state. They sought to make an atheistic government. An extensive education and propaganda campaign was undertaken to convince people, especially the children and youth, to abandon religious beliefs. In the first five years after the Bolshevik revolution, 28 bishops and 1,200 priests were executed. 130,000 Orthodox priests were arrested. This persecution resulted in the intentional murders of 500,000 Russian Orthodox Christians in the gulags by the Soviet government, not including torture or other Christian denominations killed. Metropolitan Benjamin of Petrograd, Priest and scientist Pavel Florensky and Bishop Gorazd Pavlik were killed during this time.
Spain Persecution of Catholics mostly, before and at the beginning, of the Spanish Civil war, involved the murder of almost 7,000 priests and other clergy, as well as thousands of lay people, by sections of nearly all the leftist groups because of their faith. individual clergymen and entire religious communities were executed by leftists, which included communists and anarchists. The death toll of the clergy alone included 13 bishops, 4,172 diocesan priests and seminarians, 2,364 monks and friars and 283 nuns, for a total of 6,832 clerical victims.
In Mexico, after the Mexican revolution; the atheist President Plutarco Calles of Mexico sought to vigorously enforce the provisions and enacted additional anti-Catholic legislation known as the Calles Law. Between 1926 and 1934 at least 40 priests were killed. Where there were 4,500 priests serving the people before the rebellion, in 1934 there were 334 priests licensed by the government to serve fifteen million people, the rest having been eliminated by emigration, expulsion and assassination. 30,000 Cristeros, and numerous civilians and Cristeros who were killed in anticlerical raids after the war ended. In 1992, the Mexican government amended the constitution by granting all religious groups legal status, conceding them limited property rights and lifting restrictions on the number of priests in the country.
1894 - 1905 AD
The Taiyuan Massacre. Also known as China Martyrs of 1900. During the Boxer Rebellion as a whole, a total of 136 Protestant missionaries and 53 children were killed, and 47 Catholic priests and nuns. 30,000 Chinese Catholics, 2,000 Chinese Protestants, and 200 to 400 of the 700 Russian Orthodox Christians in Beijing were estimated to have been killed ncluding St. Metrophanes.
Assyrians and Armenians Christians were killed by Turkish troops in an attempt to establish a Islamic state also known as the Hamidian massacre. Resulting in an estimated 2.5 million deaths, divided between roughly 1.2 million Armenian Christians, 0.75 million Assyrians and 0.75 million Greek Orthodox Christians;
1867 AD
In Fiji, Thomas Baker was a Methodist missionary in Fiji, known as being the only missionary in that country to be killed and eaten, along with seven of his Fijian followers.
1831 - 1859 AD
Queen Ranavalona I (reigned 1828–1861) issued a royal edict prohibiting the practice of Christianity in Madagascar, expelled British missionaries from the island, and sought to stem the growth of conversion to Christianity within her realm. Many Malagasy citizens were put to death during this period as a consequence of their refusal to recant their Christian faith. In 1838, it was estimated that as many as 100,000 people in Imerina die. in 1849, deemed the worst of these years by British missionary to Madagascar W.E. Cummins (1878), 1,900 people were fined, jailed or otherwise punished in relation to their Christian faith, including 18 executions.
In Vietnam, the emperor passed new laws on regulations for religious groupings in Viet Nam, and Catholicism was then officially prohibited. In 1832, the first act occurred in a largely Catholic village near Hue, with the entire community being incarcerated and sent into exile in Cambodia. In January 1833 a new kingdom-wide edict was passed calling on Vietnamese subjects to reject the religion of Jesus. The first executed was named Francois Gagelin. After 1836, officials could visit villages and force all the villagers to line up one by one to trample on a cross and if a community was suspected of harbouring a missionary, militia could block off the village gates and perform a rigorous search; if a missionary was found, collective punishment could be meted out to the entire community. those officals who attacked and killed the Christians could receive promotion or other rewards. Ignacious Delgado, was captured in the village of Can Lao, put in a cage on public display for ridicule and abuse, and died of hunger and exposure while waiting for execution; representative sample of only 117 martyrs
1784 - 1799 AD
The French Revolution. Approximately 30,000 priests were forced to leave France, and thousands who did not leave were executed. Requiring Vendeans to fill their district's quota of 300,000 enraged the populace, who took up arms as "The Catholic Army", "Royal" being added later, and fought for "above all the reopening of their parish churches with their former priests." A massacre of 6,000 Vendée prisoners, many of them women, took place after the battle of Savenay, along with the drowning of 3,000 Vendée women at Pont-au-Baux and 5,000 Vendée priests, old men, women, and children killed by drowning at the Loire River at Nantes. July 1796, the estimated Vendean dead numbered between 117,000 and 500,000, Some historians call these mass killings the first modern genocide, specifically because intent to exterminate the Catholic Vendeans.
In India, Muslim Tipu Sultan took Mangalorean Catholics into captivity issued orders to seize the Christians in Canara (India), confiscate their estates, and deport them to Seringapatam. Fr. Miranda, all the 21 arrested priests were issued orders of expulsion to Goa, fined Rs 2 lakhs, and threatened death by hanging if they ever returned. Tipu ordered the destruction of 27 Catholic churches. 70,000 were captured, from a population of 80,000, with 10,000 escaping. 20,000 of them died on the march to Seringapatam. According to James Scurry, a British officer, who was held captive along with Mangalorean Catholics, 30,000 of them were forcibly converted to Islam.
1671 - 1722 AD
Christianity was banned for at least a century in China by the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty because the pope did not permit Chinese Christians to have Confucius statues.
1597 - 1637AD
Japan banns Christianity. 26 Christians - European Franciscan missionaries, three Japanese Jesuits and seventeen Japanese laymen including three young boys—were executed by crucifixion in Nagasaki. the Great Genna Martyrdom (1622AD). 55 Christians were martyred in Nagasaki Japan. Paulo Miki was martyred during this time. Alfonso Navarrete Benito, Pedro of Avila, Carlo Espinola, Ioachim Diaz Hirayama, Lucia de Freitas, and 200 Companion; Lorenzo Ruiz, Dominic Ibáñez de Erquicia, James Kyushei Tomonaga, and 13 companions Martyrs of Japan. The church in Japan went underground until 1890 with the Meiji Constitution that gave them religious freedom.
1542 - 1549 AD
Juan de Padilla went to Kansas, United States of America, to preach to the Wichita, and establish the first Christian mission in the present-day United States. He was killed in Kansas in 1542 by Native Americans, and is considered to be one of the first Christian martyrs in the U.S
Luis Cancer de Barbastro was a Dominican priest and pioneer Spanish missionary to the New World. He undertook a non-violent approach to converting the American Indians to Christianity, and had significant success in this regard in the Caribbean and later in Guatemala. In 1549 he continued his mission work in Florida, an area already ravaged by previous explorers, and was killed on the shores of Tampa Bay.
1525 - 1536 AD
Jan de Bakker was arrested and the next day transferred to The Hague, where was tried by the Inquisition. Refusing to recant, he was defrocked and sentenced to death, and on September 15, 1525 burned at the stake in The Hague.
Huldrych Zwingli became the pastor of the Grossmünster in Zurich where he began to preach ideas on reforming the Catholic Church. In his first public controversy in 1522, he attacked the custom of fasting during Lent. he noted corruption in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, promoted clerical marriage, and attacked the use of images in places of worship. In 1525, Zwingli introduced a new communion liturgy to replace the Mass. Zwingli's ideas came to the attention of Martin Luther and other reformers. They met at the Marburg Colloquy and although they agreed on many points of doctrine, they could not reach an accord on the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Zwingli's alliance applied an unsuccessful food blockade on the Catholic cantons. The cantons responded with an attack at a moment when Zurich was ill prepared. Zwingli was killed in battle.
William Tyndale was arrested and jailed in the castle of Vilvoorde (Filford) outside Brussels for over a year. In 1536 he was convicted of heresy and executed by strangulation, after which his body was burnt at the stake.
1414 - 1415 AD
John Huss - The Wycliffe books and valuable manuscripts were burned, and Hus and his adherents were excommunicated by Alexander V. Hus spoke out against indulgences. The Council of Constance (1414–1418) became the 16th ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church. Hus, willing to make an end of all dissensions, agreed to go to Constance. he continued celebrating Mass and preaching to the people, in violation of restrictions decreed by the Church. After a few weeks, his opponents succeeded in imprisoning him. he remained for 73 days, separated from his friends, chained day and night, poorly fed, and ill. but declared himself willing to recant if his errors should be proven to him from the Bible. Hus stated "God is my witness that the things charged against me I never preached. In the same truth of the Gospel which I have written, taught, and preached, drawing upon the sayings and positions of the holy doctors, I am ready to die today" and then was executed and burned alive. Jerome of Prague was also executed
1380 - 1395 AD
Tamerlane (a Turco-Mongol conqueror and the founder of the Timurid Empire) instigated large scale of Christians in Mesopotamia, Persia, Asia Minor and Syria.
Timur had 70,000 Assyrian Christians beheaded in Tikrit, and 90,000 more in Baghdad, Iraq.
Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović of Serbia - In the Battle of Kosovo fought on 15 June 1389, Lazar led the army which confronted a massive invading army of the Ottoman Empire commanded by Sultan Murad I. Both Prince Lazar and Sultan Murad lost their lives in the battle.
John Wycliffe increasingly argued for Scriptures as the authoritative centre of Christianity, that the claims of the papacy were unhistorical, that monasticism was irredeemably corrupt, and that the moral unworthiness of priests invalidated their office and sacraments. he suffered a stroke, and died as the year ended. The Anti-Wycliffite Statute of 1401 extended persecution to Wycliffe's remaining followers. The "Constitutions of Oxford" of 1408 aimed to reclaim authority in all ecclesiastical matters, and specifically named John Wycliffe as it banned certain writings, and noted that translation of Scripture into English by unlicensed laity is a crime punishable by charges of heresy.
1016 AD
Jovan Vladimir - Tsar Samuel's defeat by the Byzantines in 1014 and death soon after. In 1016, Vladimir fell victim to a plot by Ivan Vladislav, the last ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire. He was beheaded in front of a church in Prespa, the empire's capital, and was buried there.
650 - 717 AD
Muslim nations impose a treaty on Christians within their countries that limit their religious practices and reduces their status as citizens. It is known as The Treaty of Umar. This treaty become part of islamic law and sharia. Non-Muslims were taxed heavily. Christians were heavily socially and civilly pressured to convert to islam.
614 AD
Jewish Governor was killed and Christianity was blamed. Christians were arrested and tortured and interrogated. The treatment caused a Christian rebellion. Christians took the city of Jerusalem and exiled the Jews. Persian forces were notified and retook Jerusalem. 17,000 Christians were executed.
516 AD
A Jewish Warlord in Yemen called for all people in the region to convert to Judaism. The Christians resisted and around 22,000 Christians were executed with the help of Arab and Persian allies of the Jewish Warlord.
341 - 375 AD
Persian Emperor ordered the eradication of Assyrian Christians. 1,500 were martyred. In a gothic region, a Terving King named Athanaric also ordered the persecution of Christians.
320 AD
The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste were a group of Roman soldiers. They were killed near the city of Sebaste, present-day Turkey and were victims of the persecutions of Licinius, who after 316, persecuted the Christians of the East. They were condemned by the prefect to be exposed naked upon a frozen pond near Sebaste on a bitterly cold night, that they might freeze to death.
288 - 313 AD
Diocletianic Persecution. Emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding the legal rights of Christians and demanding that they comply with traditional Roman religious practices. Later edicts targeted the clergy and ordered all inhabitants to sacrifice to the Roman gods (a policy known as universal sacrifice). Diocletian purged the army of Christians. Around 20,000 Christians were martyred during the 10 year persecution. Edict of Milan in 313 ended the Christian persecution. Saint George, Agnes of Rome, , Saints Marcellinus and Peter, Saint Euphemia, and Saint Sebastian was martyred during this time.
250 - 258 AD
The Decian persecution resulted from an edict issued in 250 by the Emperor Decius ordering everyone in the Roman Empire to perform a sacrifice to the Roman gods and the well-being of the Emperor. The edict ordered that the sacrifices be performed in the presence of a Roman magistrate, and a signed and witnessed certificate be issued to that effect. Jews were specifically exempted from this requirement. Fabian, Babylas of Antioch, Origen, and Alexander of Jerusalem were put to death for refusal. Cyprian is martyred in Carthage as well.
235 - 238 AD
Roman Emperor Maximinus Thrax ordered the whole empire to sacrifice to Roman gods. Empire officials were sent throughout the empire to officiate the sacrifices. Christians refused to take part. Thus he ordered Christian leaders to be arrested and put to death. Hippolytus of Rome and Pontian fled into exile.
203 AD
A slave named Revocatus, his fellow slave Felicitas, the two free men Saturninus and Secundulus, and Perpetua, who were catechumens, that is, Christians being instructed in the faith but not yet baptized, were arrested and executed at the military games in celebration of the Emperor Geta's birthday in Carthage. To this group was added a man named Saturus, who voluntarily went before the magistrate and proclaimed himself a Christian.
172 - 180 AD
Persecution of Lyons. Christians were prior banned from the market and bath houses and other public areas. Their homes were being vandalized and years prior they were being socially and civilly persecuted. Vettius Epagathus was arrested and martyred. They were charged with incest and cannibalism. The community did not understand what Christians believed (Sisters in Christ and communion were misunderstood) Irenaeus records the events. Roman governor arrested, interrogated, tortured and killed everyone accused. There were 48 victims at Lyons. Pothinus of Lyons, Attalus, Epipodius of Alexander, Maturus, Ponticus, and Sanctus, a deacon from Vienne.
The Scillitan Martyrs were a company of twelve North African Christians. Their trial and execution took place in Carthage under the Pro-consul Vigellius Saturninus, whom Tertullian declares to have been the first persecutor of Christians in Africa. The Scillitan sufferers were twelve in all—seven men and five women. Their names were Speratus, Nartzalus, Cintinus (Cittinus), Veturius, Felix, Aquilinus, Laetantius, Januaria, Generosa, Vestia, Donata, and Secunda.
155 - 165 AD
Justin Martyr was martyred, alongside some of his students. Ptolemaeus converted a promiscuous woman to Christianity, teaching her to live in chastity. The woman left her husband. Ptolemaeus was then accused by the woman’s husband of engaging in improper behavior with her. Ptolemaeus was brought before the prefect Lollius at Rome and was thrown into prison. He was later executed. Lucius was a man who protested against Ptolemaeus' sentence. He argued that Ptolemaeus has not been found guilty of any crime, and argued that Ptolemaeus was innocent of the charges brought against him challenging the honor of the prefect, the emperor, and the Senate. Lucius dangerously maintained that the sentence that had been imposed was unworthy of all of them. Lucius was then executed. Justin writes about a third, unnamed martyr: "Next, a third man also deserted [i.e. disagreed with the sentence] and was sentenced to be punished."
Polycarp is martyred in the Roman Colosseum during the persecutions of Marcus Aurelius.
132 AD
Bar Kochba revolt. During this last semi organized Jewish attempted to revolt against the Roman Empire, Christians were caught up in the event and killed as well.
108 AD
Ignatius of Antioch was martyred in the Roman Colosseum by Emperor Trajan.
34 - 70 AD
Jewish uprising and revolt causes Rome to crush Jerusalem and destroy the Jewish community.
The Great Fire of Rome. Roman Historian Tacitus stated that Emperor Nero blamed Christians for its cause. He states ""to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians". Resulting in hundreds of Christians imprisoned and killed.
High Priest Annas II took power over the region and James The Just was martyred. Christians in Jerusalem begin fleeing to Pella, Jordon; as trouble with Israel and Rome heat up.
Followers of Jesus persecuted by the Pharisees and Saul of Tarsus. Stephen of Jerusalem is stoned to death and becomes first recorded martyr. James The Greater was also martyred around 41AD.
Organizations to Partner with:
- Open Doors
- World Evangelical Alliance
- Mission Network News
- Gospel for Asia
- Amnesty International
- Voice of the Martyrs
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